Filipina on Indonesia death row flies home to ‘new life’
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JAKARTA – A Filipina who spent nearly 15 years on Indonesia’s death row tearfully reunited with family members on Dec 18 after arriving in Manila, where she now awaits a hoped-for pardon in a women’s prison.
Mother of two Mary Jane Veloso landed at daybreak, then was transferred to the local prison following a repatriation deal between the two countries over a decade in the making.
The 39-year-old was arrested and sentenced to death in 2010 after the suitcase she was carrying was found to be lined with 2.6kg of heroin, in a case that sparked uproar in the Philippines.
Veloso wept as she hugged one of her sons and her parents inside the Correctional Institution for Women in Manila, where she is being detained under the terms of a transfer agreement with Indonesia which removed the possibility of her execution.
She flew home without handcuffs alongside Filipino correctional officials on an overnight commercial flight that followed a handover ceremony in Jakarta, marking “the end of a harrowing chapter in Veloso’s life”, the corrections bureau said in a statement.
“This is a new life for me and I will have a new beginning in the Philippines,” she told a press conference at Jakarta in tears, adding that she wanted to spend Christmas with her family.
“I have to go home because I have a family there, I have my children waiting for me.”
The agreement between Jakarta and Manila
Indonesia’s government said it would respect any decision made by Manila.
Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo thanked Jakarta “for this humanitarian action”, adding in a statement: “Their generosity has made this momentous day of Ms Veloso’s return to the Philippines, possible.”
Philippine officials have said their ultimate objective is to win Veloso a pardon from President Marcos, though his government has been mum on if and when that would be granted.
After her scheduled 2015 execution by firing squad was stayed at the last minute, Veloso became a poster child for her country’s 10 million-strong economic diaspora, many of whom take jobs as domestic workers abroad to escape poverty at home.
Mr Marcos said Veloso’s tale resonated in the Philippines, as “a mother trapped by the grip of poverty, who made one desperate choice that altered the course of her life”.
The reprieve was granted after a woman suspected of recruiting her was arrested and put on trial for human trafficking and Veloso was named a prosecution witness.
“I am very happy today, but to be honest I am a little sad, because Indonesia has been my second family,” Veloso said before singing the Indonesian national anthem.
“I hope you will all pray for me. I have to be strong.”
She thanked the leaders of both countries before making a love heart sign with her hands and shouting “I love Indonesia!”
The handover was attended by Indonesian immigration and corrections staff and representatives from the Philippine embassy in Jakarta and corrections officials from Manila.
Before addressing the media, she broke down in tears as she called her children and parents.
Veloso’s travel document was stamped with a deportation mark and she will be banned from re-entering the country, according to Indonesian officials.
Her mother, Mrs Celia Veloso, 65, has called for Mr Marcos to grant her clemency so she can spend Christmas with her family.
‘Miracle’
Veloso told AFP on Dec 13 in her first interview since the repatriation agreement that her release was a “miracle”.
Showing off her traditional Indonesian batik creations in prison, she said she had also learnt guitar and how to play volleyball.
She was due to face the firing squad in 2015 but the Philippine government won a last-minute reprieve for her after a woman suspected of recruiting her was arrested and put on trial for human trafficking and Veloso was named a prosecution witness.
“I bring a lot of things, such as guitar, books, knittings... even this t-shirt I’m wearing was given by my friends,” she said on Dec 17 when leaving a Jakarta prison for the airport.
Muslim-majority Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws and has executed foreigners in the past.
At least 530 people were on death row in the Southeast Asian nation, mostly for drug-related crimes, according to data from rights group KontraS, citing official figures.
According to Indonesia’s Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, 96 foreigners were on death row, all on drug charges, as of early November.
Indonesia last week transferred home the five remaining members of Australia’s “Bali Nine” the release of Serge Atlaoui,
President Prabowo Subianto had agreed to fulfil their requests to hand back some prisoners who were sentenced on drug charges. AFP
